Police ID woman found burned

By Dale Lezon

Updated 12:44 pm, Monday, February 25, 2013

Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences checks the area where the body of a woman was found Friday by firefighters as they were dousing a small grass fire.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Staff

Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences checks the area where...

HPD investigators work the scene where the body of a woman was found by firefighters as they battled a small grass fire just northeast of downtown Friday morning on Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, in Houston. The body was found about 6:30 a.m. in the 1900 block of Gano near Lorraine, according to the Houston Police Department.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

HPD investigators work the scene where the body of a woman was...

HPD Crime Unit documents the scene where the body of a woman was found by firefighters as they battled a small grass fire just northeast of downtown Friday morning on Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, in Houston. The body was found about 6:30 a.m. in the 1900 block of Gano near Lorraine, according to the Houston Police Department.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

HPD Crime Unit documents the scene where the body of a woman was...

Investigators document the scene where the body of a woman was found by firefighters as they battled a small grass fire behind an abandoned Washateria just northeast of downtown Friday morning on Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, in Houston. The body was found about 6:30 a.m. in the 1900 block of Gano near Lorraine, according to the Houston Police Department.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

Investigators document the scene where the body of a woman was...

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences is expected to perform an autopsy to determine the identity of the woman who was found by firefighters as they battled a small grass fire just northeast of downtown Friday morning on Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, in Houston. The body was found about 6:30 a.m. in the 1900 block of Gano near Lorraine, according to the Houston Police Department.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences is expected to...

A Houston arson investigator looks around the scene of a fire in a lot behind a washeteria where a woman's body was discovered near downtown Houston Friday, Feb. 22, 2013.

Photo: Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle

A Houston arson investigator looks around the scene of a fire in a...

A body was discovered burning in a trash pile in the 1900 block of Gano near downtown Friday, Feb. 22, 2013.

Police said firefighters were dispatched to a grass fire at the scene. When they arrived and put out the flames, the found the body beneath a piece of plywood. The woman had been badly burned. She died at the scene.

Residents and workers in the area said the spot where the woman was discovered is often frequented by people who appear to be prostitutes and drug users. They said the area can be frightening after nightfall.

Vanessa Branch said she called 911 about the fire. She saw it as she was arriving at work and parking her car at an office building across the street from where the body was found.

"I'm very sacred," Branch said. "It's very dangerous in this neighborhood."

Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713 308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713 222-TIPS.